3BiosphereAll of the life on earth and all of the places where life exists

4Ecosystem (and Biomes)Consists of all the living things in a particular area, along with all the nonliving components of the environment with which life interacts, such as soil, water, atmospheric gases, and lightBiome – any of the world’s major ecosystems

13Molecules and AtomsMolecule - A chemical structure consisting of two or more small chemical units called atomsAtom – the smallest unit of matter that retains the chemical properties of an element

14So what do all of these levels of life allow for....Emergent Properties – due to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases an organisms is capable of specialized functions (i.e. oxidative phosphorylation)

15Does emergence only stop at the organism level?No –populations can work together to carryout complex activities – think of a colony of Ants; emergent properties are present at all levels of life

16Reductionism vs. SystemsReductionism - Reducing complex systems to simpler components that are more manageable to studySystems Biology – attempts to model the dynamic behavior of whole biological systems based on a study of the interactions among the system’s partsReductionism could allow for the discovery of a drug that lowers blood pressure – Systems biology would make sure that the drug did not have an adverse affect on the rest of the body.